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popculturebuffet · 5 months ago

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Chirstmas in July: Here Comes Garfiled A Garfield Christmas: A Rope of Sand (Patreon Review for Emma Fici)

Hello all you happy people and welcome to christmas in july! Kev had the idea, I said why not, a bunch of my other friends and finical contributers got involved, and here we are.

And starting us off we return to Here Comes Garfield, my look at all the garfield specials and films. Last time I looked at the minty fresh Garfield Movie, which was decent and had John unraveling as it should. This time we look at one of the franchise's high points with A Garfield Christmas.

Garfield Christmas is the 7th TV Special, airing in december 1987 and being the last special to air before the advent of Garfield and Friends. I suspect they took a bit before doing christmas both to get it right and to be ready as they'd be directly compared to the juggernaught that is a Charlie Brown Christmas. And understandably so but i'm happy to say this special, while not reaching those near impossible heights, is still excellent and worth checking out both for the novelty of being the only story to focus on John's family from this era of animation and for genuine quality. Find out why and more under the cut

The special follows Garfield as he's unwillingly drug out of his bed to go down to the farm on Christmas Eve Morning to go see John's Family, something it's implied they do every year. IT's stuff like this that reminds you Garfield is more "spoiled teenage son" than "housecat" and it is great. He also has an elaborate dream about a gift giving machine with a lou rawls song about christmas greed which parents all over the world reacted to with a resounding

So let's talk about Jon's Family. Jon's two unnamed parents and brother Doc Boy are some of the strips only recurring characters. Part of the reason you get so many special exclusives is that Garfield has a very limited cast of the cat himself, Jon, Odie, Liz, Irma, Nermal, Arlene and John's Parnets. And lyman before he was banished to the phantom zone. They later added the meanest dog in the world but aside from a few one off sin the earlier days, they tend to stick to these guys.

Yet weirdly they aren't used a ton when it comes to garfield adaptations: His parents only appear here, in ONE episode of the massive run of garfield and friends, and for a guest apperance and a cameo on the garfield show. Doc Boy actually seems to get a decent chunk of apperances on the latter, but his only apperance during peak animated garfield was this special. There's also Jon's Grandma, who wasn't as recurring as the other three, but did get a week to herself early on and got a redesign for this special that stuck for the strip

As for the rest of the Arbuckles they were introduced early into the strip, two years in 1980.

As you can grab from context, Jon's parents are farmers, his mom an avid baker and loving mother his dad a somewhat terse but loveable farmer. The two don't show up a ton these days, but still show up ocasinally. They were also originally the owners of this guy

Who owns nermal now I have no idea, but yeah, while Nermal debuted before them, he was their pet originally. Later apperances including this special just sorta soft retconned that and Nermal's current owner remains one of the great mysteries of garfield lore, and one of the few left unsolved as bigguns like "Where's Lyman?" And "Who's His dad" have been answered by the Garfield Show with Lyman having gone to australia as a wildlife photgrapher and staying to protect the wildlife by dressing up as a mythical beast... and I suddenly want to watch this entire four parter because what. While the Dad situation was resolved with the movie.. which raises further questions in regards to the strip continuity, etc etc, but at least vic's appearance gives us an idea of what he looks like in most continuities if nothing else.

Doc Boy was, as I forgot till I grabbed his first apperance from teh wiki, originally not living with Jon's parents before being retconned as such witht his special. As such he stayed home while Jon moved to the city, adopted an overweight son who treats him poorly and another son who treats him better, sexually harassed his vet then backed off enough that she actually reciprocated his feelings. You know a normal track.

I've always loved Jon's family partly because I relate: my own dad was raised on a farm as one of 9 children, moved to the suburbs later and visited frequently, while like Garfield I was carted along. It wasn't nearly as much of a put out for me.. except when he made me attend church as going to a catholic church with adhd and a poor phsique is a form of torture I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Point is I visited the farm often so I relate to getting up early, being forced to help with choring despite plenty of your uncles being there who have more muscle to them, and the quite serenity of farm life. My grandma also had a nice little toy room under the stairs for the various grandkids and a giant mountain of disney and other kids vhs'. it's how I found my love of problem child and the little rascals, both of which are on my bucket list review wise. If your curious

All-Star Superman Total Drama Island (Original) Child's Play Child's Play Comic Problem Child Little Rascals Bloom County Home Movies Daria: Is it Fall Yet? Daredevil By Mark Waid House of X/Powers of X Scarlet Witch by Steve Orlando FF by Fraction and Allred Giant Days Scary Go Round TMNT IDW Steven Universe Doom Patrol by Gerard Way Doom Patrol V2 #75 Hazbin Hotel The Legend of Vox Machina For Better or For Worse The For Better or For Worse Christmas Special For Better or For Worse Animated Series Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman More of JLI X-Factor by Peter David (Both Runs) Wolverine and the X-Men Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants Wolverine and the X-Men (Comic) Kireon Gilleon's Uncanny X-Men The Wicked+The Divine Bad Machinery The Dream of a Lifetime Space Jam Chew An Arc from Fox Trot Batman: the Caped Crusader Crisis on Infinite Earths Heart of the City Phantom of the Paradise Something Positive WALL-E The Peanuts Movie Cats Don't Dance JLA First Arc Crisis on Earth 3 That Shang Chi Arc where he has to fight a train X-Men 97 X-Men: From The Ashes (Story Arc) Birds of Prey by Gail Simone Nightwing by Tom Taylor Booster Gold TMNT: The Last Ronin Something Samurai Jack Sonic the Hedgehog Reboot by Ian Flynn (Archie) Mega Man 3 Tuca and Bertie An Extremely Goofy Movie Scream An Episode of the Red Green Show Letterkenny Shorsey Beef's Lovelife Retrospective Flame Princess Retrospective CJ Retrospective OK KO Let's Be Heroes! Storyline Retrospective A Doonesbury Special Phantom Investigators Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy Final Space Top 12 Close Enough Episodes Ready to Rumble No Holds Barred The Aristocats Hades Mother 3 Ikenfell Banjo-Kazooie X-Factor by Louise Simonson X-Factor by Leah Williams The Flintstones by Mark Russel Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles Tim Curry's Album Donkey Kong Country Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie's Double Trouble More Legion of Super Heroes The First time X-Men fought Dracula That time Superboy became hitler The Death of Superman Retrospective The Death and Return of Superman DuologY Batman: The Long Halloween (Comic) The Megas Retrospective Earthbound It's CHristmas, You Dorks Girls with Slingshots House (Japanese Film) The Fall Guy (Movie) Transformers The Movie Transformers (Energon Universe) Disney Rap Album Christmas Vacation A Christmas Story My Summer Story

It helps that John's grandma looks exactly like my grandma on my dad's side... no really it's eerie: frizzy white hair, big glasses (if not blue ones), the only diffrence is my grandma pauline is more sweet , soft voiced and sedate while Grandma Arbuckle is loud, rambunctious and sarcastic. She shoudln't entirely work, essentially being one rap ballad away from being the sterotypical wacky grandma.. but there's a realness to her antics. She's mildly passive agressive with Jon's mom in a way that comes off less mean and more "they do this a lot", talking over her when she gets worked up and spiking her gravy because Jon's mom is just.. better. With Chilli Powder mind you this is still for kids. Vodka was last week when the kids werne't looking. She also sings a rocking as hell version of o christmas tree that no one else seemed to like but is easily one of the best parts of an already stellar special.

What really sells Grandma as a character though is her friendship with garfiled. While she makes the weird wood burning cat joke (something that took me YEARS to figure out and wasn't that funny when i did), after that the two really get along, from their similar sense of humor to him sneaking her food to Garfield being the only one to keep hre company in her chair as she waxes on her husband. The scene is really touching with her talking about how he didn't show much emotoin, but really cared. You get the sense Davis put his own dad into the special with Jon and Doc Boy's pajamas based on his own as a kid. It's really sweet and heartfelt. it also pays off lovely as Garfield bumps into some letters while trying to figure out what odies up to and finds their old love letters from her late husband.

IT's one of the specials strengths: i'ts warmth: Garfields around to keep it from getting TOO schmaltzy, but it still has more than enough to fit the season. The special is mostly just some fun hangout stuff as John's Mom overcooks food, Garfield snarks and hangs with grandma, and Odie works on something> We also get some fun bits as Jon and Doc Boy act like kids at times. Sometimes it's just to play with their dad as mom makes his read how binky saved christmas. I assume it was fighting the world serpent with sword in hand while riding Smaug as we don't get much. it's also fun as the two later do act like kids, wearing footy pjamas, waking their parents up at midnight, and being threatned with chorin. It's oddly adorable and works with both being manchildren, but isn't overdone enough to get annoying.

The special just moves right along footloose and fancy free and getting there is half the fun. We get bits like working in the snow (With garfield unable to see anything form how thick it is), and a few musical numbers but it's really relaxed and uses every minute well, with grandma and odie's little side plot givnig the special just enough plot to not feel aimless but just little enough to feel like a christmas.

So those musical numbers: Besides the usual from lou rawls, we get a fun one with jon that shows thom huge can really sing, while Garfiled interjects. I especially like when he responds to "wiring all the lights" with "electrical contracting". God Lorenzo music was great. I miss him.

We get a pretty bland christmas is here song that coming right after the jazzy version of o christmas tree really makes Jon's family come off bland as fuck for not liking the former. Which fits his whole personality, but still. We get another fun lou rawls bop with you can never find an elf when you need one as Odie finishes his b plot of making some thing in the background.

It's a fun runner as he grabs random stuff and the reveal it's his present to garfield, a backscratcher he can rub up against, is really sweet as is their hug. We then get a country christmas song to close it out that's a lot of funa nd stuck in my head now thanks.

So yeah, there isn't a ton to say about a garfield christmas: i'ts nostalgic, despite having seen it in high school, warm and hits me right in the heart with some really sweet moments> It's also REALLY funny when it wants to be, with garfield getting to use both his catchphrases "Nice touch", my personal faviorite and "Whoever did (X) outta be drug out into the street and shot" which works for the time but I haven't used at all for obvious reasons. Should use nice touch more. This special.. is easily one of Garfield's best if not the best. I'll have to wait till the end of this project to see, but it is a wonderful special, eaisly on par with a charlie brown christmas and worth your time this.. july season. Thanks for reading

P.S.: This episodes ranking

#garfield #jon arbuckle #odie #a garfield christmas #doc boy #jon's mom #jon's dad #comics #comic strips #animation

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britesparc · 3 days ago

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Weekend Top Ten #678

Top Ten Moments in A Garfield Christmas

Hey kids, it’s Christmas! Or as Binky the Clown would say, “HEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDSSSSSS!”

And that’s appropriate, because this week I’m festively celebrating my favourite special – the one Christmas story I returned to over and over as a child, and which I’m delighted to say still holds up. Specifically, A Garfield Christmas.

Originally broadcast in 1987, it was the seventh TV special based on – of course – the Garfield comic strip. By now the specials – most of which are legitimately excellent – had established a pattern, and the cast (principally Lorenzo Music as Garfield, Gregg Berger as Odie, and Thom Huge as Jon) had settled into these characters well. And if you’re already making a series of semi-annual TV specials, it makes perfect sense to get round to Christmas, right? Garfield also clocked up Halloween and Thanksgiving eps.

This was a VHS I had as a child, and I think I wore that sucker out. Watching it now on YouTube (where it’s available on the official Garfield channel), I almost get a sense memory of the experience of viewing it 35 years ago. It’s not just the dialogue, it’s the whole rhythm of the thing; each pause, each sound effect, each musical note. It’s like poems in the oral tradition, passed down from one generation to the next; I could almost act out the entirety of this thing.

Watching it again in the present day, I’m struck by how mature some of the themes are. Sure, it’s basically about a lazy, greedy cat who can’t be arsed trudging to the countryside at Christmas, and his dog best mate who builds a scratching post out of some junk in a barn. But we’re introduced to a character who’s grieving, and the spectre of loss hangs over the whole thing. It kinda goes places.

Anyway, that’s enough yuletide preamble. Now let’s stoke up the fire to keep our tootsies warm, eat for two, and hope that we can find an elf if we need one, because it’s time to unwrap A Garfield Christmas.

Grandma’s Story: sure, it’s an old lady talking to a cat about the past. But the nuance of both the writing (which alludes cleverly to the generational difference of Jon’s grandparents, and the sort of man his grandfather would have been) and especially the tender, quietly emotive performance from Pat Carroll, really sells it. This is the most serious and heartfelt one of these specials has got (and, if I remember right, would ever get). It’s sort of hilarious and sort of unsurprising that two years later she was playing Ursula in The Little Mermaid.

Odie’s Present: the relationship between Garfield and Odie is one of – to coin a Rik Mayall phrase – love and violence. But to see this supposedly-idiotic character gather the resources then sneak into a barn to build a gift for his friend is not only funny and tender, but also just another badass Odie moment. The dude rocks.

Garfield’s Dream: the film opens with Garfield having a dream about a mind-reading machine that creates any gift you can think of. The subtle ways the dream-state is suggested – such as more simplistic backgrounds – is clever, but Garfield’s whole vibe throughout – “Gadgets! Stuff! Toys! Greed! Averice!” – is hilarious.

Doc Boy’s Logic: two grown men up in the middle of the night, trying to get their elderly parents to wake up so they can all go down to open presents: it’s a funny bit. But since I was a nipper I’ve loved the logic of Doc Boy and Jon’s argument: “Any time after midnight is technically Christmas morning.” The way the spurned brothers bitch about their parents – “I know that and you know that” – is also delightful.

Grandma’s Dinner: I had to have this gag explained to me as a child, but throughout dinner Grandma is secretly feeding Garfield under the table. After Dad notices how much food she’s ben taking, she covers by saying she’s “eating for two”. It’s funny coz she means her and Garfield. But it’s also funny coz it’s what you say if you’re pregnant.

Garfield’s Letters: paying off from the first tender exchange with Grandma is the moment when Garfield discovers old love letters from Jon’s grandfather and gives them to the old lady. It’s, again, very tender and real, and Carroll once more knocks it out the park. It’s another lovely, very real scene of nuanced emotion. In a Garfield cartoon.

Dad’s Story: Jon’s Dad reading the “Binky the Clown Saves Christmas” book is really funny because of how he reads it – the “Hey kids!” bit from the beginning of this list – but also the sarky way Jon and Doc Boy treat the occasion; a childhood tradition that’s now an object of fun, two sons lovingly ripping the piss out of their father.

Mom’s Gravy: I love the way this special lovingly but sarkily pokes fun at inter-family dynamics, everyone being in a house together at Christmas. Grandma adding chilli powder to the recipe of Mom’s gravy is a great example – because her gravy “won a blue ribbon in the county fair and your gravy didn’t even place”. This joke then pays off when Garfield tries it later and it’s really spicy. Who doesn’t love a cartoon character breathing for?

Garfield’s Star: after a struggle putting a star on the tree, Garfield is given a mission to climb the tree himself and do it. It’s presented like a combat assignment – complete with military drums – and what’s funny is that Garfield is into it. It’s a rare example of Garfield doing what he’s told and enthusiastically being part of the group, and prefigures his soppy speech at the end of the film. He also says “If I’m not back in an hour send a banana cream pie after me,” which is funny.

Jon’s Flashback: the song Jon sings about Christmas past is funny in and of itself (especially with Garfield’s moody interjections) but as a long-time fan of these characters, it’s really amusing to see the flashbacks. Jon as a toddler and Doc Boy as a baby, with their parents as young people, is really fun to see, and quite tender too.

An honorary mention goes to the songs. All the Garfield specials have great music, and this is no exception - I'm not sure there are any all-out bops here, but praise to the composers and Lou Rawls who's the go-to guy for Garfield songs.

So there you go! I guess if you’re not familiar with the special then none of this will matter to you. But to me, this is a terrific short film, one of the best of the Garfield specials, a lovely thing to watch at Christmas, and an indelible part of my childhood. What can I say? It’s not the giving, it’s not the getting, it’s the loving.

Now get outta here.

#top ten #garfield #a garfield christmas #christmas #films #animation #tv special #holiday #merry christmas

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